1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to real-time data conferencing in a network, such as voice conferencing over a packet switched data network.
2. Description of the Related Art
Networks of general purpose computer systems and specialized devices connected by external communication links are well known and widely used in commerce. The networks often include one or more network devices that facilitate the passage of information between the computer systems and devices. A network node is a network device or computer or specialized device connected by the communication links. An end node is a node that is configured to originate or terminate communications over the network. An intermediate network node facilitates the passage of data between end nodes.
A valuable application that uses such a network is a voice application that transports voice data between end nodes in near-real time. In recent years, applications that transport voice data have been enhanced to provide voice conferencing among multiple end nodes. Such applications involve a voice conference server to which each end node sends voice data. For each end node participating in the voice conference, the server receives a voice data stream, combines voice data received from all the other end nodes and sends that mixed voice signal to each node. For 5 end nodes, the server receives 5 voice data streams, combines them four at a time five different ways and sends out five different combinations of the five streams (each combination a mix of 4 input streams).
A problem with such applications is that the server power and bandwidth must increase with an increase in the number of end nodes engaged in the voice conferencing. For servers that attempt to provide this application for hundreds of conferences of several to dozens of end nodes each, the processing power and bandwidth demands on a single server become daunting.